Around 500 BC people in South Asia (primarily India and Sri Lanka) began interacting with people in Southeast Asia. Some of the earliest indicators of this contact are stone and glass beads that were imported from South Asia and widely traded across Southeast Asia. These beads were important symbols of prestige and power. In this presentation I discuss my study of beads from 12 archaeological sites in Cambodia and Thailand and what we can learn from these beads about early trade networks, how beads were being exchanged, and who may have been trading and wearing beads.